Chapter Seventy-Two
Monday October 25, 2032
They had been there since eight in the morning, and although they didn’t want any attention from the press, Wesley Williams and Thomas Peterson were being hounded by reporters who had arrived at the Capitol Building even earlier than they had.
“Mr. Williams, can you tell us what you know about the man who kidnapped your family?”
Without looking at the reporter, Wesley replied, “He’s been taken into custody, and my family is safe. That’s all I want to say right now.”
“Is it true that the person being accused was a former staff member of Senator Cranston?”
Thomas Peterson was getting annoyed and said testily, “He just told you that’s all he wanted to say. Can you just please give us some space? We’re not here in any official capacity.”
The distinctive sound of high heels against marble floors began echoing down the hall, and Williams saw Dinah Cranston in the distance. His fists clenched, and he pushed his way past reporters and walked stridently in her direction while Thomas Peterson followed behind, hoping to keep him from getting into some kind of melee.
Once he was just a few feet away from Cranston, Williams asked angrily, “Did you hear what happened this weekend?” She looked startled, as did the aides flanking her, but instead of answering, she slipped around him and continued walking, prompting Williams to follow immediately behind.
He continued, “Your staff member kidnapped my wife and kids. Bob Kully, he used to work for you. Did you know about this? Did you set him up to do this? It sure seems that way!”
Stopping in her tracks, Cranston turned on her heel and said, “Mr. Williams, you need to govern your tongue. That’s an outrageous accusation!”
“He worked for you. He talked to you. And from what the police have told me, he’s been in touch with you up until this very weekend. I also have reason to believe he’s the one who shot me and Tobias Huang! Are you insane?”
Trying her best to appear calm, Cranston answered curtly, “Mr. Williams, I cannot be held responsible for the actions of an ex-staff member. I am very sorry what your family went through, but I had nothing to do with any of this. Nothing.” She then resumed walking toward the meeting room, but at a quicker pace.
Wesley Williams was unrelenting as he stayed right on her heels and said, “Do you know how close I came to getting killed? Do you know how much danger you put my family in, Senator? I should wring your neck right here in front of all these people!”
Stopping abruptly, Cranston directed her voice toward the nearby reporters and said, “Do you see this, California? Do you really want this man as your Senator?”
“You never stop campaigning, do you?” said Peterson with a smirk.
“I might be letting my emotions get the best of me right now,” said Williams, “but I think anyone with even an inkling of what I’ve gone through this year would understand. I think there’s a lot more here than meets the eye, and I suspect your man Kully will have a lot more to say as they do their investigation, Senator Cranston. You are complicit!”
Opening the door into the conference chamber, Cranston turned one last time to the men following her and said, “Gentlemen, I have business to attend to, and this is a closed-door session. Allow me to demonstrate.”
With that, Dinah Cranston, followed by both of her aides, entered the meeting room and closed the heavy wood door behind the men and the reporters in the cavernous marble hallway.
As the truck pulled up to the cabin, the kids jumped out before it had even come to a full stop so they could check on their dogs. All three of them were ecstatic to see their kids back, and Virginia gave each one of them a big hug then declared to her brother, “Stewie, we’d better go see if there’s anything to clean up inside.”
“Why? We just got here!”
“They had been trapped indoors a long time, Stewart! Come on, let’s go!”
Virginia and her reluctant brother opened the door to the cabin, prompting the young boy to say, “Phew! It smells!” and exit immediately. “Go and help your sister, young man,” his mother said. “If you want to have dogs, you’ve got to deal with the occasional consequences.” The boy looked downcast but headed back toward the front door, making sure to dramatically pinch his nose just before heading back inside.
“Are you going to be all right here, ma’am?” asked Colonel Miller.
Elizabeth Williams smiled slightly and said, “I think so. I’m not really sure. My mother always told me if you fall off a horse, you have to get right back on it, so I think I’d better just soldier on.”
“Well, it’s quite a horse you’ve fallen off of,” said Miller. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to keep a couple of my men stationed up the road, just for safety’s sake.”
“I don’t really think that’s necessary,” she replied, looking toward the cabin whose front door was still wide open.
“You won’t even know they’re there, and I think it’s the right call. Anything else we can do for you, ma’am?”
Virginia and Stewart came out of the house, and Virginia walked over to the battered aluminum garbage can to throw away a plastic bag. Both kids were wearing blue nitrile gloves since they were cleaning, and Stewart snapped his off as he walked over toward the adults.
“How about you, young fellow? Can I get you anything?”
Stewart paused for just a moment, glanced at his mother then glanced back at Colonel Miller. “Do you know any good places to eat around here?”
It was almost eight o’clock at night, and while the Capitol would normally be empty at such an hour, there were dozens of reporters following the two men.
“Come on, come on, let’s get out of here,” Thomas Peterson said as Wesley Williams quickly led the way down the hallway. They both shoved open a set of double doors as the reporters continued to pursue them, peppering them with questions.
“Mr. Williams, are you concerned about Senator Cranston’s pledge to sue you for slander?”
“Mr. Peterson, did you turn over the evidence to the committee?”
“Are either of you contemplating selling the rights to your story?”
Once the men were finally outdoors, they realized no car was waiting to drive them away, so they both reached for their phones to summon a robotaxi. As they did, the phalanx of reporters gathered near them in a semi-circle and continued with more questions.
“Mr. Peterson, what did you do with all the evidence you brought to the committee?”
“I provided it all to Senator Macdonald,” Peterson replied.
A different reporter asked, “All of it? Is there anything else you are retaining for a later date?”
Peterson looked puzzled and said, “Retaining? No, why would I………no, I gave him everything. I trust the Senator’s judgment to handle it properly.”
“Mr. Williams, did you do this as a campaign stunt as some are claiming?”
Wesley Williams looked at the reporter sternly and said, “Mr. Peterson and I came out here to honor the wish of the man who gave these things to us, and that wish was for us to spread the truth.”
“The truth?” said another reporter. “Are you sure this isn’t all some sort of elaborate hoax?”
“The facts fit together,” said Peterson testily. “Every morsel of what I’ve seen makes sense, and to me the evidence seems so overwhelming that……. look, who are you to question what we’ve brought? That’s for the committee to decide.”
A driving pod pulled up to the curb, and another reporter shouted out a question, “Mr. Williams, what would you say if after all this your political opponent still held on to her Senate seat?”
Williams opened the door to the pod, but before slipping into it turned to the reporter and said, “Vox populi, vox dei,” and then pulled the door shut as the pod drove both the men away.
“Oh my God, I could not do this for a living,” said Wesley, relieved to finally be in the shelter of a vehicle.
Thomas Peterson looked across at him and said, 'Well, that surprises me, because I think this is exactly what it’ll be like if you actually win. And I never thought I’d say this, but I honestly think you’re going to win.’
Wesley shook his head and said, “Good Lord. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.”
Peterson leaned over and gave Wesley a couple of friendly pats on the knee. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m sure it’s not always this bad. There are going to be days when you wish you had this much attention.”
Wesley looked out the window at the passing scenario. Washington D.C. was replete with monuments, statues, and parks, and if his mind hadn’t been so crammed with thoughts and feelings about the day’s events, he was in no way able to just enjoy the view. After the men rode in silence for a couple of minutes, he asked, “Thomas, do you think what we did is going to make any difference?”
Peterson stopped his own examination of the passing scenery and said, “What? Of course it will. How could it not?”
“Inertia,” said Williams. “It always seems to win the day when it comes to politics.”
“Not every time,” said Peterson. “Sometimes something comes along that’s so big, they can’t ignore it. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
“I suppose. The election’s in ten days. A lot can happen in just ten days.”
Peterson nodded and looked out the window again. “I’ve heard it said that one’s life comes down to just a few key moments. You ever hear that?”
“Yeah, I think so,” said Wesley.
Peterson stretched his arms and said, “I think today was one of those moments. For all you know, we might have stopped a war today. You realize that don’t you? It may be just that big.”
Wesley Williams was surprised at what he was hearing. “I doubt that. I think the odds are stronger that what happened today will be another political footnote, at best. I hope I’m wrong, but………”
“You’re wrong, pal,” smiled Peterson. “What we’ve done today will be remembered. You’ll see. My old partner didn’t give us all that stuff to be a footnote. It’s a big deal.”
“And what makes you so sure?” asked Wesley with an uncharacteristically serious expression.
Thomas Peterson leaned back in his seat, sighed, and said, “Sometimes, you just know.”
The intercom on the President’s desk chimed, and his secretary said, “Mr. President, I’m sorry for the interruption, but the Vice President and the Secretary of Homeland Security are here to see you.”
President Wright glared at the intercom and then looked at his chief of staff on the other side of the desk. “I’m meeting with George right now. Were they on the calendar?”
“No sir,” came the voice through the speaker, “but they say it’s urgent.”
“Christ, now what?” the President said to no one in particular. He replied to his secretary, “Send them in.”
The door to the oval office opened, and George Reid stood up from his chair as a courtesy. Florence Wilson, the Secretary of Homeland Security, walked in first, followed by Vice President Charles Tyler, who gently closed the door behind him.
“Florence, Chuck, what brings you two over here at this hour?” asked the President.
“I’ll give you all some privacy,” said his chief of staff as he made his way toward the door.
“No, George, stay put, we weren’t done yet,” said Wright. He looked again at the other two and said, “What’s this about?”
“I think you might want to give us a moment after all, George,” said the Vice President.
“He’s staying,” said the President, as his chief of staff slowly sank back into his chair. Wright asked again, angrily, “What’s this about, Florence?”
Secretary Wilson lifted up the single sheet of paper she was holding and, although her hand was quivering, she read the words on it with as steady a voice as she could muster. “President Martin Wright, it is my constitutional duty to inform you that your Cabinet, having met and conferred, has voted in the majority, along with Vice President Charles Tyler, that in our estimation you are no longer fit to occupy the high office of the President of the United States.”
Both the President and George Reid looked on at Wilson with astonished expressions as she continued her stony reading of the statement.
“The information which has come to light about your activities in office, coupled with your reckless and irresponsible interference with the diplomatic efforts between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, leaves us no option except to invoke the fourth section of the Constitution’s 25th amendment, which calls for Vice President Charles Tyler to assume the role of the President until such time as you wish to respond to these actions, should you choose to challenge them.”
Secretary Wilson looked up from the paper and slowly lowered the page back to her side. She looked steadily at the President, anxious about what would happen next and trying her best not to show any fear.
The Oval Office remained utterly quiet for a long while, and then the President began chortling to himself, with increasing volume and tempo. Once the laughter reached a full head of steam, Wright abruptly stopped laughing, and his face reddened while his neck went taut. “You two can get the hell out of here!”
Tyler took a step toward the desk and said, “I’m afraid we’re not going to do that, sir. The Cabinet and I did not take this matter lightly, and……….”
Standing up so suddenly that his chair rolled several feet behind him, the President shouted, “Get the hell out of here, Charles! George, get a security detail in here!”
No one moved, so Wright pointed angrily at the door and said once again, even louder, “Out!”
Florence Wilson placed the sheet of paper on the President’s desk and said, “Sir, this is a constitutional matter. You have the opportunity for redress. But as of this moment, the Vice President is required to assume your duties. Please understand that we took no pleasure in this decision, and that………….”
Wright grabbed the sheet of paper, crumbled it into a ball, and threw it across the room, and the eyes of the other three instinctively followed the wad as it landed on a nearby sofa. George Reid stood up once more and said to the Vice President, “Chuck, don’t you think this is hasty? Now is not the time to be playing political hardball.”
“This isn’t about politics,” said the Vice President. “The situation has become incredibly serious, and neither I nor the Cabinet could stand by and wait to see how this played out. It was time to take a stand. It was time for a change before this gets any more out of hand.”
“And we’d rather tell you in person, sir, instead of through some intermediary,” added Secretary Wilson.
Turning toward the President, George Reid said, “This will not stand, sir. All you need to do is send a written notification that you are reclaiming your office, and they’ll still need two-thirds of both houses to make it stick.” He turned toward Tyler and Wilson and said, “You two aren’t going to get away with this. This is the end of the line for the both of you.”
“There’s nothing we’re trying to get away with,” said the Vice President, as he beckoned Wilson to walk with him toward the door. “We simply cannot have a madman sitting in that chair. Come on, Florence.”
“How dare you insult me!” raged Wright. “How dare you try to pull off this banana republic coup! You’re fired! The both of you!”
Florence Wilson, who was already halfway out the door, turned back and said, “Only the President of the United States can fire me, sir, and as of this moment, that isn’t you. Shame on me for thinking the best of you, sir. Shame on me, and shame on you.”
She then pulled the door behind her, and it closed with a thud.